Langston Hughes African American Film Festival

The annual Langston Hughes African American Film Festival (LHAAFF) is a major season program of LANGSTON organization. The festival hosts provocative films and works about the Black experience from independent filmmakers.

In the heart of Seattle’s historically black neighborhood, the festival features hands-on workshops, discussions, and in-depth chats with filmmakers, industry professionals and local community leaders, housed at the historic Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute.

As Seattle grows as a seat of activism, progressive ideology, innovation and technology, the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival serves as a meeting place for filmmakers and audiences to exchange ideas with Black film as a catalyst for discussion.

The event is the culmination of a year’s worth of community-building through a series of smaller events that provide audiences with unique cinematic and filmmaking opportunities, resulting in the community-wide film festival. The festival focuses on established names and emerging talent in Black cinema and creating ways for audiences to connect with filmmakers and filmmaking through interactions in and outside the theater.

Films are selected from entries screened by panels and curated from current and vintage offerings worldwide. The festival takes pride in finding independent film that is by or about Black people from emerging and established filmmakers from around the world and in our own backyard.